Division of Medical Biotechnology, Paul Ehrlich Institute, 63225 Langen, Germany.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 May 11;22(10):5084. doi: 10.3390/ijms22105084.
Transposons are mobile genetic elements evolved to execute highly efficient integration of their genes into the genomes of their host cells. These natural DNA transfer vehicles have been harnessed as experimental tools for stably introducing a wide variety of foreign DNA sequences, including selectable marker genes, reporters, shRNA expression cassettes, mutagenic gene trap cassettes, and therapeutic gene constructs into the genomes of target cells in a regulated and highly efficient manner. Given that transposon components are typically supplied as naked nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) or recombinant protein, their use is simple, safe, and economically competitive. Thus, transposons enable several avenues for genome manipulations in vertebrates, including transgenesis for the generation of transgenic cells in tissue culture comprising the generation of pluripotent stem cells, the production of germline-transgenic animals for basic and applied research, forward genetic screens for functional gene annotation in model species and therapy of genetic disorders in humans. This review describes the molecular mechanisms involved in transposition reactions of the three most widely used transposon systems currently available (, and ), and discusses the various parameters and considerations pertinent to their experimental use, highlighting the state-of-the-art in transposon technology in diverse genetic applications.
转座子是进化而来的可移动遗传元件，能够高效地将其基因整合到宿主细胞的基因组中。这些天然的 DNA 转移载体已被用作实验工具，可稳定地将各种外源 DNA 序列（包括选择性标记基因、报告基因、shRNA 表达盒、诱变基因陷阱盒和治疗性基因构建体）高效地导入靶细胞的基因组中。鉴于转座子组件通常以裸露的核酸（DNA 和 RNA）或重组蛋白的形式提供，因此其使用简单、安全且具有经济竞争力。因此，转座子为脊椎动物的基因组操作开辟了多种途径，包括转基因技术，用于在组织培养中生成包含多能干细胞的转基因细胞，用于基础和应用研究的生殖系转基因动物的生产，用于功能基因注释的正向遗传筛选在模式生物中的应用以及人类遗传性疾病的治疗。本综述描述了目前广泛使用的三种转座子系统（、和）的转座反应所涉及的分子机制，并讨论了与其实验应用相关的各种参数和注意事项，突出了转座子技术在不同遗传应用中的最新进展。
